MULTI_MEDIA_MAN

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Oswald Connoly- Armory

A lot of new information presented itself to Oswald in rapid succession

Gren wanted to send some poor blade to its doom in testing this monster they were creating.

Emerald was fucking flying.

And Chatsworth wanted them to write a report. On what they were working on. K. Big huge sword-puncher and a magnum that would surely result in comments about compensating. Hmmm, would his cannon require a compensator? Was it even feasible to create a compensator so huge?

Well, tanks used them, so shouldn't this thing? With a weapon so big, especially meant for use with only one hand, any advantage he could get would help. Compensator it was. He had a feeling it had a more official-sounding name, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

It didn't really matter, did it? No, it didn't. Fuck matter. Energy was where it was at, and Oswald would need a big compensator to divert as much gas from this damned thing as possible to save himself from turning his wrist into jelly.

He was gonna have super-arthritis by the time he was like 30, he could just tell. All the torture he put his body through on a daily basis could not be doing him any good, Aura or no.

Back to matters at hand: Emerald was flying, he had to write a report about this stuff, and Gren needed a volunteer blade.

"I ain't got shit." Taking a second to look around, Oswald shrugged. "I'm...sure there's gotta be something we can use, though. Some piece of junk scrap for reference or some shit? I'd...go looking, but I'd rather not get up again, not just yet." Letting out a slow breath, Oswald clenched his fist a few times before sighing. Broken ribs suuuuucked.

@Lucius Cypher @Abillioncats @FlitterFaux

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Oswald Connoly- Armory

"Well, I guess we're alike in that regard. I tend to take things to excess as well...though you've probably noticed that, based on what I'm trying to create here." He noticed Gren's nod in assent to avoiding messing with the blades anymore. As awesome as a drill might have been, it ultimately came down to a distrust of slapping a thousand moving parts into a weapon. Even this attachment itself would barely move, just launch the blade forward at absurd speeds.

Aside from that, it was hard not to join in on Gren's optimism. They would have the parts before the end of classes if his future employers had their delivery estimates in order. And it wasn't like he was throwing five different weapons together into one monster of a contraption like Gren did with his God Eater.

Yeah. They had this.

And then there was Emm and Anna. Anna the Lewd. Anna the Defiler. Anna the Tech Goddess. Yes, Anna, let us just go over the '3D rendered model' later tonight. What a wonderful idea that would be. Maybe they were taking it a liiiitttllleee too far.

Maybe. Maybe not. That was for hindsight to decide, he figured. Anna's ambidextrous display was impressive, and not in any sexual way, either. It was just cool to watch. It seemed like this little group of theirs was really in their element.

Fuck yeah.

@Lucius Cypher @Abillioncats @FlitterFaux

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Assigned antagonist for any one mission runs the whole show, correct? Just wanna triple check.

@FlitterFaux

To the fucking bane of my entire team, yeah.

I had the benefit of the teams I was antagonizing to sabotage themselves. SASG had sapphire go scouting solo and accidentally TRIGGER the siren, where RPGD had two players severely wound themselves because the bullets that I meant to drain chunks of their Aura, they had cut right through and like rip open their fucking shoulders and shit.

Thankfully Robert (Guess Who) didn't follow that line of thought, or Rob woild be dead as dicks right now by chainsaw bisection

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@FlitterFaux @Abillioncats @Lucius Cypher

Because what are mentions?!

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Oswald Connoly- Armory

Rolling his eyes at Anna's continued banter, Oswald gave a little chuckle and a wink. "Oh, definitely. We can compare notes and everything, too." He wondered for a moment if such a study actually did exist, but decided that that was a question for later. Definitely later.

Gren returning with a pair of fuckhuge weapons and offering to share one for scrap was starting to make his offers sound too sweet a deal. "Gren, it's...not that I don't appreciate the assistance, especially since I basically roped you into this, but...are you sure this isn't too much? Even spare gear is useful, and you're basically throwing it all away like old candy..." He really did appreciate the help, but it was at best too self-sacrificing for Gren to give up this much material.

At worst, it was horribly suspicious, especially considering what had just happened to their team on Friday. No, no, we are not going down that road just yet. He's a student. A student at Beacon Academy. How would he even know who those guys were? No, he's just...he's just trying to help...or something less sinister than genocide, at least.

Yeah, that had to be it. Maybe he just thought that giving them stuff would indebt them to him. It kinda did, frankly, but Oswald wasn't going to dwell on that. If Gren needed a favor down the road, he'd gladly do it anyway.

Shaking himself out of his self-destructive line of thought, Oswald started looking over the spare weapon Gren had put on the table and nodded. "I'd actually rather not mess too much with the blades anymore. I already completely destroyed whatever stability this thing had by making it into a swivel-blade. Letting it spin on top of that, as epically savage as it would be, just strikes me as a bridge too far. And a hilt design was exactly what I was thinking...that is, if we mean the same thing." Checking back over his schematics, Oswald nodded. "Big-ass attachment designed to house the blade, and launch it out real quick-like. Sounds simple enough, especially with a weapons nut like you on our side."

As he finished, Oswald felt his Scroll vibrate with a message, which he quickly read.

Ah. Yes, it might be better to avoid discussing Friday's mission out loud any more. He was somewhat surprised that Emerald was as frazzled as Anna seemed to think she was, but considering yesterday's events on top of Friday's...it made more sense to him.

---------------------

Sender: Oswald Connoly
Recipient: Anna the Lewd

That...is probably a good idea. I have a few things to talk to Emerald about myself, anyway. I can tell you about what happened Friday before that, I guess. It's...some pretty heavy shit I'm gonna be dropping on the two of you, but if this thing is gonna work, you are gonna have to know this about me.

----------------------

"I hope we can get this done by mission time this coming Friday. I wanna bust some carcasses with this shit."

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Oswald Connoly- Armory

Shit, I totally forgot about the goggles Emm mentioned last week! And I had such lofty plans for them... Oswald gave Emerald a guilty look and dropped a hand roughly onto her head, messing her hair up before pulling it away and smirking at her. "I'm sorry, Emm, I totally forgot about those goggles. I promise we'll get to them. Just...probably not today. And we'll make them the coolest goggles ever, and we'll totally kick ass with them!" Asshole, thy name is Oswald. At least Gren's here to help. He's kinda weird, but he seems like a good guy.

And then Anna returned fire. Direct hit, right to the heart. Even a man so thoroughly put-off by her obviously fake flirtatiousness couldn't resist the siren call of a young woman practically throwing themselves at him.

So he did the next best thing, and played along. "I do remember being contacted about some sort of survey like that. They wanted a lot of pictures..." Smirking, he decided that now was as good a time as any to get his gear. "I'll be right back." Standing up and slowly hobbling over to his equipment locker, Oswald cursed when he realized that he effectively had one arm for this.

Laying his cane against the locker, Oswald carefully put his arm through the handles of his shield and awkwardly grabbed the guard of his sword, which dug slightly into his hand. Sighing, he closed the locker, grabbed his cane, and walked back, this time even more awkwardly.

Somebody had to be looking, right? Fuck it, let them look.

Unceremoniously dropping his gear onto the desk, Oswald grunted and sat back down carefully. "Sword has a compartment in the handle for carrying Dust crystals, which you were so kind as to deliver a metric fuckload of to me. Uses them to fire a beam of energy out of the blade. Quite a useful thing for dealing with long-range foes, so long as I don't run out of Dust, at least."

Nodding to himself, Oswald retrieved the schematics for his upgrade from his Scroll. "We're basically gonna turn this into a goddamned pile driver. I want this thing to punch through a manticore's fucking kneecaps and turn it into an overgrown slug."

@FlitterFaux @Abillioncats @Lucius Cypher

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Abillioncats @FlitterFaux @Lucius Cypher

Because mentions

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Oswald Connoly- Armory

It looked like this was happening. Gren was already thinking on the same lines as he was, and that was fantastic. "That was actually how I'd originally imagined it, Gren. It seems crazy guys like us truly think alike." Looking around at the little gathering he'd developed, Oswald smiled. He was gonna do this. They were gonna do this.

And Gren was even being sweet about money. Hell, Anna said she'd pitch in. It wasn't necessary, thankfully, but it was appreciated. "That...won't be necessary. I can get you all of the materials you'll need. I have a few favors I can pull after these two missions we've had. 'Exposing' a 'lone, corrupt official' within the Schnee Dust Corporation earned me their 'unceasing thanks.' Not to mention that after that shitshow of a mission we went on Friday, there are a few people who are....invested...in my continued growth."

A beat passed while Oswald wondered about just how exactly he'd be of use to those people, especially since their support came at a price. It was a price he was more than eager to pay, frankly, but it locked his options down after graduation quite a bit.

Picking his Scroll up without regard for who was looking at it, Oswald quickly sent a message before setting it back down, open to the schematics file for the shield. "That's something to be dealt with at a later time. Suffice to say, we'll have everything we need brought to us relatively quickly." Anna's comment about his hands managed to get a smirk and half a smile, but he was more interested in her ideas for her Tiger.

"If you're looking to poach my shield ideas, we might just have to pool resources and brainstorm. Hell, if you're looking for a low-intensity shield that lasts longer, we might be able to use the same design for what I'm using, just modified." Nodding, Oswald swept his arms out in a grand gesture before wincing. "Fuck, that hurt. Regardless, think of a dimmer switch for a light. Lower the dial, light goes down. Push up the dial, light goes up." Smacking his hand down onto the table, Oswald laughed.

"But we do it with the shield! Give it a high-power mode, and a power-saver mode! Or, to keep it simple just work on two separate styles and cross what ideas and parts we can where we can!"

Oh yes, this was happening.

"Oh, and Anna..." Oswald turned to the now-blonde girl and smirked. "I'm so flattered you can call us friends. My big hands are just trembling in excitement."

I've got your back Gren.

You big giant idiot.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Oswald Connoly- Armory

"Revolver, to be specific, but I'd prefer a handgun, even if it ends up being humorously over-sized to accommodate a 20mm round. I figured a 3-round cylinder would be the most realistic thing to go with, considering that a .500 already drops you down to a fiver." Giving Gren a wicked smile as they began to plot how to create these blessed weapons, Oswald almost let a frown slip through when Anna came. Right, he remembered seeing more blonde hair than usual this morning.

'How's the blonde in the uniform doing today?'

'You mean Krysanthe? Legs for days.' Did...did Gren not notice? Holy shit, Gren didn't notice. Your dedication to the art of murder will be appreciated, you glorious fucking psycho.

"That's to be expected, but if possible, I'd rather limit the battery life of the shield rather than it's power, though I understand that doing so might cause some issues with the unit itself. I'm hoping to use it for either area defense or to stop overwhelming attacks. Like, say, an anti-aircraft cannon getting shot at you when you're down to a third of your Aura."

Oddly specific scenario that made his entire side ache just at the very thought of it aside, Oswald nodded. "Hi, Emm. Hi, Anna. We're working on developing a few weapons that will hopefully allow us to prevent something like last Friday from ever happening again. If we ever come across more psychos like that...we need to be prepared. We can't get caught off guard again if we want to stay in this business for very long." He ignored Anna's complaining. She was more manageable when you didn't give in to her flirting, he'd gathered. She'd give up eventually, she had to.

Right?

@Abillioncats @FlitterFaux @Lucius Cypher

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@FlitterFaux

I think he meant this place and the force field inside/around it.

@Lucius Cypher

Yeah, that